Another Like Me
by YingoShabuki
Summary: After a hard day at school, and another failed attempt at flying, Scootaloo's dream of becoming like her hero, Rainbow Dash, seems farther away than ever. However, her day soon changes as a stranger that isn't from Equestria quite literally drops in for a visit. Will this newcomer break the filly out of her sadness, or will she give up on her dreams for good? Read to find out!
1. The Day Things Changed

_Hello everybody! YingoShabuki here with another story of mine. I came up with the idea of this story after seeing this picture: . /tumblr_m08jxkx7hu1r1jqquo1_ and so I thought "hm...maybe a story about this kind of thing wouldn't be so bad?" Anyways, this will most likely be a shorter story than Dead Rising: Case Equestria, and if you haven't already checked it out, I urge you to do so and review it please! It would be much appreciated! So without further ado, here it goes!_

**~Another Like Me~**

"Oh come on!" A cry of frustration was heard from the vicinity of the Cutie Mark Crusaders treehouse. The cry itself had originated from a small orange filly with a purple mane and tail, it seemed that she was quite tired, as she was panting frequently, and covered in sweat. She furiously flapped her wings in a desperate attempt to get airborne, but alas, she could only hover for a split second before falling to the ground in a heap. Unlike the other times she simply decided to remain on the ground, taking a rest from her many attempts at flying, which had been going on for at least an hour. The sun had long since set into the horizon as Luna's silver moon looked quite beautiful tonight, glowing brightly while complimenting the many stars that shined along with it.

Who was this young pony in distress you might ask? Why, it was none other than Scootaloo, a Cutie Mark Crusader, and an all together lovable filly that usually found herself getting into mischief of multiple kinds along with her best friends Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom in their endeavors to gain their cutie marks. Scootaloo however, was feeling down in the dumps today. "This is ridiculous!" she told herself in a huff, "no matter how hard I try, I just can't fly!" She sighed before slumping down, depressed, "I guess I'll never be able to be as awesome as Rainbow Dash...and even worse...Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were right..." at the remembrance of the two bullies, tears began to flow down her cheeks as she recalled the insults they had battered her with during school.

[Flashback: 5 hours earlier]

"Wow, this loser doesn't have a cutie mark _or_ wings!" The pale magenta filly, Diamond Tiara, said jeering at Scootaloo.

"I do too have wings!" The pegasus filly shot back obviously angered at her words.

"Might as well not have them at all! Considering you can't even get more than an inch off the ground!" The other bully, Silver Spoon, said scoffing at her victim's rebuttal.

"I know, a blank flank and a lame wing! She's such a foal if she thinks Rainbow Dash would _ever_ notice her!" Diamond Tiara said smirking as the pair of bullies began to laugh as they walked off, leaving Scootaloo both angry, and disheartened at their words.

[Flashback End]

"They're right," Scootaloo said, now breaking into sobs as she sniffled. "I'm just a loser...why would Rainbow Dash even think that I'd be worthy to learn from her at all." She took on a small smile, remembering how her friends had tried to comfort her afterwards.

_Don't listen tah them Scoots!_ Apple Bloom had said patting her reassuringly on the back.

_Yeah they're just jealous because we'll get Cutie marks that are 10 times better than their's!_ Sweetie Belle had declared, trying to cheer up her friend. Scootaloo at that time had shrugged and assured her friends that the bullies's words hadn't had an effect on her. However, now that her friends were gone, and her pride in no danger, she felt the full weight of the verbal assault take hold upon her, and she remained in the clubhouse, alone and depressed.

"I'm so useless..." She thought miserably as she simply decided to let the tears and sadness consume her, until she finally fell asleep, dreaming of the day she might finally fly, and the day her idol, Rainbow Dash, would finally notice her...

**~Another Like Me~**

"Come on Shingo! You gotta' try harder than that!" Shouted a youth, about 16 or 17 years old, at his opponent. This youth was none other than Kyo Kusanagi, the reigning champion of the King Of Fighter's tournament. He was a laid back young man that didn't care much for school, simply opting on training for the next tournament or hanging out with his friends and girlfriend. Today he wore a white jacket with a black t-shirt underneath, and some jeans that weren't overly tight, but not too loose either.

"B-but Mr. Kusanagi! This is ridiculous!" The opponent, a lad who was only about 1 or 2 years younger than Kyo, said tiredly. This youth was also brown haired, but chose to wore a blue button up jacket with a white undershirt and some dark blue slacks. "I'm used to fighting you and losing already, but with Ms. Chizuru here as well?!" He cried in panic as he dodged a punch by Kyo, rolling away to distance himself from his opponents.

"I know this is hard Shingo," Kyo said with a bit of sympathy for his student, dropping his fists for a moment, " but times are tougher now! You saw what NESTS did! They captured me, and I'm already a seasoned fighter! I'm trying to train you for any situation, and with the way those guys were, who's to say someone might not gang up on you in a fight like this? Understand?" The teacher inquired as he returned to his fighting stance.

"...Yes sir Mr. Kusanagi!" Shingo replied after a bit of a pause.

"Good! Then I want to see your efforts double!" Kyo cried as he charged forward. Shingo groaned as he tried to anticipate his teacher's movements while also keeping an eye on his other opponent, Chizuru Kagura, a young woman who had known the both of them for a few years now. She was quite pretty, having fair skin and black hair let down, but wore a white hair band. She wore a white robe that looked as if it was a bit formal for the fighting scene, but she paid no mind to that, while also wearing black dress pants and some black heels that she seemed unhindered by as she was fighting.

"_Oh man what am I gonna' do?_" He thought in fear as he knew that taking his eyes off of either of his opponents would result in a beatdown that he would rather not have. "_Wait!_" He thought, his face lit up as he remembered something Kyo had told him before.

[Flashback]

Shingo had been tired after having a long training session with Kyo that day, and afterwards his teacher had come up to him with some advice.

"Shingo," He said garnering the attention of his student.

"Yes Mr. Kusanagi?"

"You have been doing very well in learning so far, but their is one thing you have to learn."

"What's that Mr. Kusanagi?" Shingo asked curiously, dusting himself off as he sat up, having been lying on the ground previously.

"You must always learn how to switch tactics at a moment's notice!" Kyo said with a serious, but kind look, "If you continue to keep using the same strategy over and over again, your opponent will easily figure you out and find a weakness in your style!"

"So what do I do?"

"You must always learn to use even the most unexpected things to your advantage, if you find yourself in a situation that is terrible, and the only way out is risky, do something totally unexpected, you never know! It might just catch your opponent off guard!"

[Flashback End]

"Hm...unexpected eh?" Shingo grinned as he had a crazy idea. "Well I guess there's no other option!" He braced himself as he did the one thing a rational person would never do: run right in the middle of his two adversaries. Shingo knew his opponents were surprise, as they both raised an eyebrow at his move. However, as he expected they both charged towards him, seeking to catch him in a double team attack. At the last second, as Kyo was beginning to charge his fist with the power of his flames, which were inherent to his family line, and Chizuru about to unleash the power of her Yata mirror, he side stepped, making his opponent's attacks collide. Shingo grinned as his foes made contact with one another. However, his grin faded as he saw what happened next.

"Oh no the Yata mirror!" Chizuru cried out in horror as it began to grow with a bright white light after coming into contact with Kyo's flame.

"Wait what's going on? What's happening to it?" Kyo asked apprehensively as he ran over to her, all notions of the sparring session coming to a halt.

"I-I don't know!" She said nervously, "It seems like your flames may have inadvertently set off somet-" she was cut off as it let out a bolt of energy that headed straight for an unsuspecting Shingo, who cried out in pain as he fell to the ground after getting hit by the energy.

"Shingo!" His friend and teacher both cried out as they ran over to him. They saw that the bolt of energy had sent him into a state of shock as he began to gain a faint glow.

"What's going on? What's happening to him?" Kyo cried out in frustration to Chizuru who didn't respond as she remained speechless at what was occurring.

"**WHAT THE BLAZES IS ALL THIS YELLING ABOUT**?" Yelled a dark haired man who was dressed in a forest green gi as he angrily ran in wondering what had happened.

"Dad!" Kyo cried out, "It's Shingo he's-" He suddenly cut off as a bright flash filled the room, making everyone shield their eyes from the spectacle. Once the light had faded, they looked to see that Shingo was no longer in the spot he'd been in. "-gone..."

**~Another Like Me~**

Scootaloo, after sleeping for a good hour or two, finally woke up with a yawn as she felt a little bit better than she had before, but was still quite sad. "Maybe I should just give up on being a pegasus altogether..." She thought dejectedly, and began climbing down. As she turned to leave for her home, she heard a loud and strange sound that sounded like that of an energy crackle. "Could that be a Sonic Rainboom? No Rainbow Dash doesn't fly this late though!" The filly thought a bit confused, but finally decided to check it out. "It looks like it came from the Everfree forest..." She thought, hesitating at the idea of going in there. She had heard about the many terrible things in the forest: dragons, timberwolves, Apple Bloom had even told of a strange and scary town of grown ponies that had no cutie marks. However, strengthening her resolve she decided to head into the forest anyways.

After a few minutes of walking around, the orange-coated found herself lost, and growing a bit more terrified of the many sights and sounds of the forest with each passing minute. "Well, maybe if I can just find Ms. Zecora's place I'll be fine..." Scootaloo reassured herself as she looked around, and decided a direction to randomly walk in. However, she had no luck in finding the zebra's place, and simply found herself more lost than before. She sighed in frustration and turned around, "maybe it was the other wa-" she muttered but suddenly stopped as she heard a low growl emanate from behind her. "I sure hope that's my stomach..." she gulped nervously, breaking into a cold sweat as she slowly turned around to look behind her.

What met her eyes was one of the worst things she could think of, a canine, snarling and snapping at her with it's razor sharp teeth, and it's glowing green eyes staring right at her. It was completely made out of wood. "Timberwolf!" Scootaloo screamed as she galloped away as fast as she could, the wooden dog running and barking as it remained locked onto her. The chase continued for awhile until Scootaloo, in a moment of carelessness and terror, tripped over the root of a tree, making her fall to the ground. She winced in pain as she tumbled a few feet before finally stopping on her back. To her horror, she saw the timber wolf slowly advancing upon her, it's eyes narrowed and it's tongue licking its lips in anticipation of its next meal. "No! Go away! Shoo!" The filly shouted at dog desperately, but to no avail as it simply ignored her cries. "Oh no! Someone! Anyone! _**HELP ME**_!"

**~Another Like Me~**

"Oh man my head..." Shingo groaned as he began to awaken from his fit of unconsciousness. "Remind me never to order whatever I had Mr. Kusanagi...Mr. Kusanagi?" He suddenly shot up, taking in his surroundings. "_Where am i?! How did I get here in this forest?!_" He thought frantically as he looked around for some form of civilization, but could find none. Suddenly he recalled the events that had happened at his teacher's house only hours, but what seemed like moments to him, ago. "Wait a minute...that energy...it must've transported me here." He rationalized as he pieced the events together. "Yeah, that makes sense! One minute I was fighting with Mr. Kusanagi and Ms. Chizuru, and then her Yata mirror gave off a weird energy! I must've gotten hit by whatever light it gave off, and got transported here...and then fell a good bit then I suppose." He gained a look a triumph at having figured out his predicament, however, his look soon faded as he realized something. "Only...where _is_here?" He took another look around and noticed something. "_Why do all the colors...pop out?_" He wondered, "it's like something out of a cartoon...man the energy probably messed up my head too..." he groaned as he finally got up off of the ground and decided to walk around to see what he could find.

"Someone! Anyone! _**HELP ME**_!" A cry suddenly made him snap out of his musings and gain a battle stance.

"_That sounded like a little girl!_" He thought wide-eyed, "_She sounded like she was in trouble! I've got to help her!_" He declared in his mind as he began to run towards the sound of the voice he had heard. As he got further in he began to hear the sound of snarling and growling. "_A wolf!_" He thought in realization, "_There's not much time left then!_" He then doubled his pace as he got closer and closer until finally he saw what he was looking for, but gasped in shock at what he found. "_A wolf...made of wood!_" He thought bewildered, but shook it off as he realized what he came here for. Using the skills he had learned in his training with his teacher, he went for taking a silent approach of attack, instead of foolishly yelling like most people would. Bracing himself, he rushed in and leaped towards the wolf, the creature itself turning around just as he made contact.

As Shingo engaged the timber wolf, Scootaloo, who had been keeping her eyes shut, but opened them once she heard the growling of the wolf stop, could only watch in amazement as she saw a creature she had never seen before leap onto the timber wolf and actually begin _fighting_ it one on one! She took a breath that she didn't realize that she'd been holding in as she could only gaze in awe at the fighting prowess of this newcomer. As the timber wolf tried to viciously claw at its new adversary, the creature would simply roll away or sidestep casually, as if not even having a hard time fighting it. Everytime the wolf tried to lunge, the creature would simply dodge and unleash a flurry of its own attacks, a mix of kicks and punches that looked as if they visibly hurt the timber wolf. At one point, she gasped as she saw the creature outright pick up the timber wolf and slam it down on the ground behind it.

After a few minutes, the timber wolf realized it was greatly outmatched and ran away, giving shame filled yelps as it ran off. "Woah... that was... amazing!" Scootaloo said out loud without realizing it.

"Hehe..." The creature chuckled, "well I mean that wasn't that bad, but I hope you're alright little-" it stopped suddenly as it turned around, finally facing her as it gained a shocked look on it's face. "..._pony?_"

"Uh yeah...I'm fine thank you very much!" Scootaloo said gratefully, however the creature didn't seem to hear her as it began to try to speak, but found itself lacking the ability.

"_Wait ok Shingo get a grip! It's only a talking pony! Nothing to be worried abou- oh who am I kidding of course this is something to worry about!_" The poor boy's mind raced furiously as he tried to contemplate the notion of a pony talking. "I-you-b-but..." Was all he could stammer out as his brain finally shut down, resulting in him fainting outright.

"Uh...hello? Mr...whatever it is you are?" Scootaloo inquired as he lay on the ground. "Oh come on! He fainted?!" She yelled out in frustration. "Well at least the timber wolf is gone..." She thought as she opted to simply lay by the creature, deeming it friendly as it had not eaten her or acted hostile towards her. She snuggled up to Shingo a bit, trying to get warm as the brisk, cool air of the forest winds blew, making her shiver. "Well, guess the only thing to do now is to wait until morning I guess..."The little filly then yawned and snuggled up even closer to Shingo as she fell asleep, awaiting the dawn of a new day...


	2. The Day the Bond was Forged

"_Oh man what a crazy dream_!" Shingo thought with a chuckle, "_fighting wooden wolves and a talking horse, man if Kensou or Benimaru hear about this I'll never live it down_!" He then gave out a rather large yawn and decided to get up. "_Hm...the ground seems strangely...grassy...did I start sleep walking again_?" He thought in confusion, cringing as he remembered that the last time he slept walk he had ended up outside on his lawn face first in a bowl of cereal. This embarrassing fact was augmented only by the sole fact that he _extremely_ disliked milk, and guess what that bowl was filled with? Let's just say his neighbors got a rude awakening that day.

"_Well even if I am on the lawn again at least no breakfast related food substances are involved._" He thought optimistically as he then rubbed his eyes to get them at least a little more awake, but when he did so he gave a cry of shock. "What the?! Oh no I'm still in that forest!" He then paused and looked a little bit contemplative, "so then that dream _was_ real...so then that means..." he paused and looked down, confirming that the little orange horse he had seen before was indeed still there. "Huh...I guess I'll wait until she wakes up to ask her about this place..."

He decided to begin climbing a tree to get a lay of the land, he figured out that they were pretty deep into the forest that they were currently in, and it was morning, about breakfast time Shingo figured. With that, he began to carefully climb back down, but unfortunately a piece of bark gave way and made him lose his footing, making him fall a moderate height and landing in a heap. "Ow, now I know why I'm not cut out for rock climbing class..." he groaned, which managed to make Scootaloo wake up.

With a yawn, she got up and stretched her wings, and seemed a bit confused, but that faded as she recalled the events of the previous night. Looking around she found the creature she had met the night before lying in a heap as she figured out that he had fallen after climbing at the tree and began to stifle a laugh at the sight. "Hey c'mon it's not that funny!" Shingo said as he glared slightly at the filly.

"Hehe, sorry you just looked funny like that!" She said after calming her giggles.

"Hey!" Shingo cried with indignation, "You know I'm pretty sure things here would look pretty weird back where I come from! Especially talking horses like you!"

"Hey I'm a pony, and a pegasus I might add!" Scootaloo countered with a bit of offense in her voice. Shingo noticed he had hit a nerve and tried to apologize.

"Sorry sorry! It's just that where I'm from there's really not much of a difference to either term."

"That reminds me," Scootaloo said in realization, "what exactly _are_ you, and where are you from? I mean, I've never heard of a creature like you in the Everfree Forest!"

"Everfree Forest eh? Is that where we are?" Shingo asked her, to which she nodded in confirmation. "Well, I'm what's called a human, think of a monkey, but bigger and smarter...and less hair!" He explained as Scootaloo listened with curiosity, "as to where I'm from, I'm from Osaka!" He said proudly, remembering his home along with his many friends and family he had made there.

"Oo-sock-uh? Where's that?" Scootaloo asked, not knowing where in Equestria that could be.

"Oh, Osaka? It's in Japan!" Shingo clarified, with not much result as the little orange pony was still as baffled as ever. "You've never heard of it? Hm...oh man..." Shingo paused, but then gave shocked look as he realized an important fact, "GAH! That means I must have been transported to an _entirely different world_!" He cried out loud, to which Scootaloo went wide-eyed.

"You're from a different world?" She said giving a look of wonder and amazement.

"Yeah, I think so anyways...hey mind telling me where this forest is in though? Nation-wise I mean."

"Well, we're in Equestria if that's what you mean..."

"Equestria? Hm...punny if I do say so myself..." Shingo said chuckling at his small joke. His humor was lost on Scootaloo though as she simply raised an eyebrow at his statement. Shingo then coughed nervously as he then shifted to another topic. "Ahem, well anyways I completely forgot! My name is Shingo Yabuki! Nice to meet you little pony!" He greeted with a smile as he held out his hand for a shake.

"Shingo? Heh that's a funny name!" Scootaloo said with a bit of a giggle.

"Hey!" Shingo cried out in protest, "I bet my name's way better than yours!"

"Oh yeah!"

"Yeah!"

"Well then _Shingo_," she said with a smirk, "my awesome name is Scootaloo!" She then stuck her tongue out, daring him to top, in her opinion, perfectly good name. However, she saw that Shingo was struggling to hold back his laughter as she glared angrily at him, but it was too much as he burst out laughing uncontrollably.

"Scootaloo?!" He yelled out in between fits of laughter, "your name is _Scootaloo_? That's hilarious!" He declared as he went on laughing. At this, Scootaloo remembered the way that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had laughed at her the day before, and began to tear up a bit while sniffling at the emotional wound that she had reopened. Shingo had heard this and went quiet.

"_Oh nice going Shingo_!" He thought to himself sarcastically, "_Not even one day here and you've already made the pony equivalent of a little girl cry!_" He sighed guiltily as he went over to the little pegasus filly.

"Scootaloo?" He inquired softly as the violet-maned pony turned to face him with tears in her eyes.

"What?" She asked, obviously wondering what he was up to.

"Listen, I'm sorry for laughing at you. I had no right to do that." He then held his hands up in a non-threatening manner, "In both of our defenses though, I think for both our worlds we have pretty weird names."

"Heh...yeah I guess so." The filly said as she gave a short laugh, "thanks for the apology, but it wasn't really your fault that I'm crying."

"Oh?" Shingo said raising an eyebrow, "then what was it?"

"Well...you seem pretty nice I guess, so I guess I'll tell you..." Scootaloo took a deep breath as she began to tell her tale. "It's just that, everyday at school there are these two other fillies in the class that are always making fun of my friends and I."

"Why would they do that?"

"Well, mostly because we don't have our cutie marks."

"Cutie marks?" Shingo said confused at the new term.

"Yeah, Cutie Marks are special markings that go on our flanks," she then gestured to hers, "after somepony finds their special talent."

"Ah, so sort of like finding your purpose I suppose..." Shingo said nodding his head in understanding.

"Yeah, but everypony else in our class has theirs except for my friends and I, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, and so everyday those two bullies would come up and keep calling us 'blank flanks' just because of that."

"Well, that doesn't seem so bad, you still had your friends so you didn't have to listen to them right?" Shingo asked trying to cheer her up.

"For a while I did ignore them, " Scootaloo said confirming, "but then..." she paused, gaining a depressed look, "then they started going after _me_ specifically. They still mocked us as a group, but they always did it to me the most..."

"..." Shingo went silent, waiting for her to continue.

"They would always come up to me and make fun of my wings and how I can't fly," she emphasized this point by fluttering her wings a few times while hovering above the ground for a few seconds before falling down. "See? They'd always say I'd be a useless loser who shouldn't have even been a pegasus. They never got caught by Ms. Cheerilee either, because they knew they'd get in trouble, and so they'd always get me when she wasn't around or had her back turned."

Her voice broke as she began to sob, "the worst part is. They're _**right**_! I'll never be able to do _anything_worthwhile. I really _am_ just a loser!" She cried out, "heck even pound cake, a _**foal**_ only a few months old can already fly better than I can! If that doesn't scream failure I don't know what does!" Her sobs then turned to quiet sniffles, "I don't know why I ever thought I could be as awesome as Rainbow Dash one day..."

Throughout all of this, Shingo looked on in sadness. He felt a great sense of empathy for the little filly, though she didn't know it. However, he couldn't bear to see a person, or pony in this case, cry like this. "You know, I know how you feel." He said simply, getting Scootaloo to stop crying for a minute and look at him hesitantly.

"R-really?"

"Yeah, in fact, why don't I tell you a story of my own?" He said motioning for her to sit down by him, which she obliged. "Alright, it began a couple years ago, I was watching the King of Fighters tournament an-"

"King of Fighters tournament? What's that?"

"King of Fighters?" Shingo said getting a big grin on his face, "It's only the coolest thing ever! You get fighters from around the world getting together and making the most formidable teams there are to-"

"Wait fighting?" Scootaloo said with a bit of shock, "Isn't that a bit dangerous to do?"

"Well yeah...I suppose it is," Shingo said after giving it some thought, "however, when I first saw it I had been watching one fighter in particular! _Kyo Kusanagi_!" He said dramatically as Scootaloo noticed his shenanigans and giggled slightly. "Anyways, after that summer was over, I went back to school, and guess what? I figured out that Mr. Kusanagi and I went to the same school, and were even in some of the same classes together!"

"Oh wow!"

"Yup, and after seeing him I decided immediately to go up and ask him if he could train me. He was a bit surprised at first, but after asking him a couple more times I managed to get him to show me some of his moves!" Shingo said looking fondly on the day he had met his hero.

"Really? That's so cool that you got to do that!" Scootaloo said with awe.

"I know! Imagine! My hero! Showing me his own moves for me to train with! Eventually, he went on to accept me as his true student, giving me these gloves," he said showing Scootaloo the blue gloves he had on, "and training with me more and more often. We even won a tournament one year a little while ago!" He said proudly.

"So...seems like you had it made huh..." Scootaloo said feeling down on herself once again. Shingo stopped and noticed this before continuing on, but in a much more quite manner.

"Yeah...but it wasn't always like that..." he almost whispered, causing the filly to look up at him again. "In fact..." he continued, "that first year was especially hard for me. People would always come up to me and tell me I was wasting my time, that I'd never make it anywhere..." he paused, looking a bit crestfallen, "even my parents said that I should pick up something else to do..."

"..." Scootaloo looked at him in understanding, realizing what he had felt was very similar to her predicament.

"A lot of the fighters would pick on me too, calling me 'kid', 'runt', 'brat', all manner of names, some I can't and won't repeat ever..." he said bitterly at the memory, "for a while even Mr. Kusanagi, my own teacher said that maybe I should lay off the training for a while, but I didn't listen to them. Despite all their mocking manners and insults, I continued practicing as hard as I could to be the best I could possibly be! I'd never back down from a challenge, no matter how bad the odds were, and eventually, slowly I began to gain respect among the people I knew, if not for my skills as a fighter, then for my determination. No matter how hard they'd hit me I'd always try to hit them harder, even when I had barely any fight left in me, and eventually it was that determination that won us that final fight in the tournament that we won." He smiled once again as he remembered the medley of feelings he had had that day, of the celebrations that had occurred. However, much to Scootaloo's surprise, he then gave her a serious look. "Scootaloo, promise me something."

"Um...sure. What is it?" The little pegasus asked in surprise.

"Promise me that you won't give up, that you won't throw in the towel because of what others may say." He then went on, "I know it'll be tough at times, believe me I know, but even when it seems like the whole world is against you, you just gotta' keep at it and head towards your goals with your head held high. I've done it before, so I know!"

"But what makes you think I can do it?" Scootaloo asked skeptically, "I don't think I'd have the will or the strength to go on like you."

"You're wrong."

"Huh?" The filly was taken aback by this sudden refusal.

"I _know_ you can do it. I know because I've found another like me, oppressed by people's judgements and opinions, scorned and ridiculed because they want to be something great and just because our dreams may seem out of our reach. Scootaloo, I've done this before...I've fulfilled my dream..." he paused, giving a warm smile as he held out his hand to her, "now it's your turn to do the same."

"..." Scootaloo was speechless at this. She had finally found somepony who understood how she had felt, somepony willing to work along with her to help her achieve her hopes and dreams, but most of all, somepony who truly believed in her. Feeling a couple tears of happiness come from her eyes, she pushed aside the hand and dove onto Shingo, giving her new friend a joyful hug, to which he returned warmly. "I promise Shingo, I won't let what other ponies say stop me!" she said softly to him. He smiled as the two shared a tender moment of companionship and somewhat of a sibling bond as well. However, something happened to bring the moment that the two shared to an abrupt halt.

"Hey guys! I think it came from this direction!" Scootaloo's eyes opened in surprise at the familiar voice that cried out. Shingo however, kept a hold on her protectively as he turned to face what was coming, in fear that it may have been some other foul creature of sorts. Much to his relief, it was only a group of six ponies that emerged from the bushes in front of them.

"_Oh wow they have unicorns too?_" Shingo thought in surprise as the group turned to stare at him. All was silent for a second as the group stared each other down.

"Git yer hands offa' her ya varmint!" The light orange mare with the stetson hat said as she narrowed her eyes at the perceived threat.

"Careful girls we don't know what this creature is capable of!" The lavender unicorn called out to the group.

"Step away from the squirt you monster!" The light blue pegasus called out angrily as she flew in towards Shingo at a blazing fast speed.

"Wait what no you've got it all wro- GAH!" He scrambled to dodge the hoof that came flying at him, dodging it by mere centimeters. "Aw man! I just can't get a break from the fighting huh?" He muttered as he readied himself for the impending fight...


	3. The Day That Friends Were Made

_Note: in this chapter you must use this soundboard: __This one__ in order to get the full impact of a certain character's __words__ in the beginning of this chapter. So whenever words are bolded and italicized spoken by the character named Terry Bogard, switch over to the soundboard and click the corresponding phrase to hear the sound!_

"Alright guys settle down!" Kyo called out to the group he had gathered, who were currently chattering among themselves amongst themselves. The group he had gathered consisted of his good friends Benimaru, a man with blond hair that stood straight up in a spiky tower and was able to wield lightning, Goro Daimon, a tall and very powerful judo master, Terry, a blond haired fighter from America, and his brother Andy, a shiranui ninja. Along with these people were a couple of Shingo's friends who were Sie Kensou, a young boy who used his psychic abilities along with kung fu, Kasumi Todoh, a sapphire haired girl who was a practitioner of her families style of fighting, Yuri Sakazaki, a brown haired girl who practiced Kyokugen Karate, and Rock Howard, the adopted son of Terry.

Together Kyo had gathered them at his house the moment that Shingo had been whisked away by the mysterious energy from the Yata Mirror. He figured that with their help, he could find a way to bring back his student, but so far they had gotten nowhere with the discussion. "Guys come on! We need to figure this out!" He sighed as they continued to ignore him and finally nodded to Terry after waiting a second. Terry pounded his fist loudly on the table, making all conversation in the room come to a stop.

"_**GET SERIOUS!**_" He yelled out.

"Thanks Terry!" Kyo told the blond haired fighter gratefully, who nodded in response, prompting him to continue. "Alright guys, I'm sure you're wondering why I gathered you here today."

"Mmphhphh" Kensou tried to respond to the statement, but couldn't as his mouth was currently invested in eating his favorite snack, a baozi, or meat dumpling. As he tried to speak however, he began choking, much to the shock and somewhat disgust of everyone present. As he tried fruitlessly tried to cough up his food, Terry went over and slapped his back quite hard, dislodging the offending food, but also making Kensou giving a yelp of pain.

"_**ARE YOU OK?**_" Terry asked the younger boy who was currently giving out a last couple of coughs.

"Yeah, but did you really have to hit me _that_ hard?" The boy whimpered as he rubbed his throbbing back.

"_**Hey C'MON C'MON!**_"

"Yeah I guess you're right Terry! Even though it hurt it sure helped, so thanks!" Kensou agreed as Terry gave him a thumbs up and went back to his seat. "So Kyo as I was saying, yeah we were wondering! Over the phone you said something about Shingo right?"

"That's right, I hate to say this guys but...he's gone..." Kyo said a bit sadly as everyone gasped, while Terry made a "defeated" sound in response to the news.

"Wait, but do you know where he went though?" Yuri questioned hopefully, trying to see if there was some possible place to search.

"That's just it! We don't know..." Kyo trailed off, recalling how Shingo had disappeared into thin air.

"Hm...I think you'd better tell us the entire story my friend." Goro rumbled in his deep voice.

"Well...it all started..." Kyo began to explain the entire incident back to them, and by the time he had told everything, everyone had a different reaction, Goro and Benimaru had looks of deep thought, Shingo's friends ranged from worried, to downright sadness as they heard what happened, Terry and Andy were talking over what they thought might've happened.

"Hey Kyo, you said that the Yata mirror was responsible for the disappearance right?" Andy asked the fire-wielder, who nodded in response to the question. "Well I know this might sound a little crazy, but what if that energy didn't destroy him, what if it transported him somewhere?" Everyone in the room stopped to consider this, before Rock decided to speak up.

"But if it did, wouldn't somebody have found and recognized him by now? I mean he has been in a lot of KOF tournaments so someone out there is bound to recognize him!" He said with a raised eyebrow as a couple of others nodded in agreement.

"Hm...well you don't think..." Benimaru said, but trailed off as he shook his head at the thought, "nah forget it!"

"Oh come on Beni what's up?" Kyo said, trying to coax his friend's idea out of his head.

"Well I was just thinking, and this'll sound weird mind you, but what if he got transported to an entirely different _world_?" The spiky haired man offered his friends as he glanced around the room at them.

"But we don't have enough power alone to do something like that, and even if a force like that were present the only one strong enough to do that would be Orochi, and he's been sealed away for a while now!" Kyo said, furrowing his brows in thought.

"Then what if an other-worldly force intervened?" Andy offered up, which got everyone to think what force could possibly have done this.

"Well guys, if that's true, then we better figure out where to start..." Kyo proposed, to which everyone nodded. "_Shingo, wherever it is you are...I sure hope you're alright..._" He thought with worry as everyone headed to leave.

**~Another Like Me~**

"_Alright Shingo, think, you're up against six mares who think you've endangered Scootaloo...and they want to fight..._" The young man thought furiously as he braced himself for the battle to come. "_I can't go full power, or else they could get seriously injured, but man I just wish they'd listen to me right now, but they probably would question me even more on how I could talk..._" He rationalized this, and figured that the only way out of this was if Scootaloo could convince them to stop, which hopefully would be shortly.

"Rainbow, ya'll be careful with this thing, it don't seem to be from around here!" The orange mare warned the cyan one, who cockily grinned before facing Shingo.

"No worries Applejack!" The pegasus reassured her friend, "I'll take down this thing down in less than ten seconds flat or my name isn't Rainbow Dash!" She then took a fighting stance as she and Shingo prepared to fight. (Click link for the fight music.)

"Alright, here I come!" The pegasus named Rainbow Dash yelled as she flew at Shingo with blinding speed. He barely dodged, rolling out of her way as she did an aerial flip to change direction.

"_Man she's fast!_" Shingo thought in awe at the speed at which she flew, but grinned, "_luckily I've dealt with fast before!_"

"Twilight wait!" Scootaloo said on the sideline as she called out to the older pony.

"Not now Scootaloo!" Twilight chastised the filly, shooing her away, "I'm trying to determine what sort of creature we're facing here, it isn't like anything I've ever read about before!" The little pegasus groaned, knowing she wouldn't get any attention from Twilight, and decided to try one of the better candidates, namely, Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy!" Scootaloo called out to the pale yellow mare, who snapped out of her current task, which was watching a couple of critters stroll by, preferring to watch out for animals in need rather than watch a fight.

"Oh, hello Scootaloo, are you alright? I heard from the others that the creature over might have hurt you! Are you alright?" The mare asked, checking the filly for any injuries.

"That's just it Fluttershy! I need to tell you about the creature over there!" Scootaloo said exasperatedly as they both sat down. Fluttershy then looked at Scootaloo curiously, but nodded to the filly to continue you on. "Well..." The filly sighed as she began to explain what had happened the previous night.

"_And now!_" Shingo thought as he watched Rainbow go in for a dive, attempting to punch him with her hoof outstretched, but Shingo, being an experienced fighter, sidestepped the blow, grabbed her by her wings, and slammed her on the ground behind him.

"Not bad!" Rainbow complimented as she quickly got back up, "But I'm just getting warmed up!" She declared as she let her wings flare out and began hovering above the ground. She then flew towards Shingo before attacking at a fast pace, pelting him with a barrage a punches, kicks, and bucks, all of which Shingo managed to dodge, making her eyes go wide in surprise. "_What? He dodged __**all**__ of them?_" She thought before Shingo decided to counterattack.

"_Here it goes!_" He thought as he brought his fist into her face, making sure to hold back a bit, while following through with his elbow and then shoulder, lauching the surprised pegasus into the air. He then conjured up his energy, channeling it into a flurry of kicks as he rose higher and higher, pummeling the pegasus in the process. With one final overhead kick he finished his combo as Rainbow gave a yell of pain before flying to the ground in a heap. Shingo however, couldn't control his descent unlike his teacher, and ended up falling down onto the cyan mare as she attempted to get up, incapacitating her. The other mares, except Fluttershy, and another bright pink mare, gasped in surprise at seeing their pal get taken out so quickly.

"Why you! Ya'll just bought yerself a one way ticket ta' Hurtsville!" The orange mare named Applejack said angrily as she gave Shingo a glare.

"_Well so much for not getting them angry!_" Shingo thought as he face-palmed. He made sure to get the rainbow-maned pegasus out of the way as the mare with the stetson stepped up to challenge him. After a second of staring between the two, they both charged at each other, the mare deciding to turn as Shingo got close and readied herself to buck. However, what she didn't see coming was that Shingo kept running, but put his shoulder forward as he summoned his chi into the shoulder facing the pony. As his shoulder and her hooves collided together, there was a brief struggle as the two forces collided, each trying to overcome the other, but finally the farm pony got launched backwards, her face covered in surprise and pain, but Shingo only slid back a few feet in contrast.

"_B-but how! Nopony short of Big Mac can possibly have that kind of strength!_" She thought in alarm as her face held a mixture of awe, respect, and a bit of fear towards the creature she was facing. She shook it off and got back up, trying to think of a plan.

"_Ok, __**never**__ doing that again!_" Shingo thought gritting his teeth while rubbing the shoulder that had taken the brunt of the impact. "_Man I really hope I didn't just dislocate this thing...wait what's she doing?_" He thought in alarm as he saw the pony he was facing take out a lasso and begin swinging it around her.

"Let's see how ya like this!" She called out as she swung the rope towards him, Shingo holding his ground as he watched the loop intently, waiting at the proper moment to react. As he felt the rope come around it, he calmly stood, waiting for it to tighten around him. "_Gotcha now!_" Applejack thought in triumph as she began to tighten the loop around Shingo's waist. However, he was ready for this, and simultaneously pushed the rope down while jumping out of the loop just as it tightened into a knot. Applejack's eyes widened at this as Shingo went on to grab the rope and tug. "_Uh oh!_" Applejack thought to herself as she felt herself get tugged away by the creature. Shingo went on the spin the rope round and round, making the mare get very dizzy. After he decided that she'd had enough he let go of the rope, making her fly away into a nearby bush.

"_Another one down!_" Shingo thought in triumph as he saw that the mare hadn't come back.

"Consarn it Pinkie why are ya making the world spin again like that!" Applejack said dizzily as she then fell unconscious.

"Ooo Ooo me next me next!" The pink mare called out excitedly as she literally bounced up and down in anticipation.

"Pinkie Pie!" Twilight said in a chastising notion, "This isn't a game- oh _no_!" she groaned as she saw Pinkie already trotting up to the creature happily.

"Hi my name is Pinkie Pie nice to meet you! Do you like parties? I like parties! In fact we should totally have a super duper awesome welcome-to-Ponyville-Party after we get done here!" The bubbly mare chattered excitedly. Shingo himself was surprised by her friendliness, but wondered if she had even taken a breath through her entire speech.

"Um...sure! I'd love a good party!" Shingo answered, barely managing to follow what she had said.

"Ooo you can talk? Awesome! I can't wait to introduce you to all my friends! I've got a whole bunch!" The mare chirped happily, "let's see there's Twilight, she'd love to learn all about you, Rarity, ooo that's the white pony over there, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Cran-"

"Pinkie!" The lavender unicorn cut her off, obviously annoyed by her willingness to warm up to the unknown beast. The pink pony was snapped out of her thoughts as she suddenly realized what she was supposed to be doing.

"Oh right!" She said as she clopped her hooves in realization, "Serious time, I'm in a fight!" However, despite her attempts to be serious, she still giggled a little at the end of her sentence. She then hopped back a distance from Shingo and gave him a surprisingly convincing serious look.

"_I don't know if I can actually fight this one...she just seems so...warm and happy!_" He thought hesitantly, however, he jumped back and gasped as the pony in question had somehow appeared right in front of him. "W-what the?" The pony giggled in response however as she pulled out a large object from behind her. "_Is that a cannon?_" Was all Shingo had time to think as he promptly got launched into the air by a rather festive ball of party items, the cannon itself going off with the rather comical sound of a party noise maker. However, as surprised as the young man was, he was even more surprised as he saw the pink mare _with_ him in the air.

"Ah let's see now where were we?" She asked him casually as she pulled out a clipboard and pencil from seemingly nowhere. "Oh! What's your favorite flavor of cake?"

"Um...chocolate?" Shingo responded, a bit scared at how she was doing all of this.

"Ooo that's a good one! Now how about your favorite type of drink?"

"Um...raspberry lemonade?"

"Hey I like that one a lot too! Now your favorite music?"

"A bit of techno and dubstep sometimes, but mostly rock I guess." Shingo decided to give up trying to figure the mare out and decided to go along with the odd questions.

"Well I don't know about that last one, but I know Vinyl Scratch can probably work out those first two for us!" The pink mare said giddily. "Oops, forgot! Rarity catch me!" The pink mare ordered as she fell towards the white unicorn on the ground.

"Wait Pinkie I-" The mare didn't have time to protest as she was firmly face-planted into the dirt by the pink mare, who patted her on the head.

"That'll do Rare, That'll do!" She said proudly.

"_I just don't know about that pony..._" Shingo thought shaking his head at Pinkie as he grabbed a nearby tree branch, using his momentum to swing around a couple of times before letting go and landing, but not before doing a couple of flips in mid-air.

"Guess it's up to me then!" The purple unicorn muttered to herself as she saw that Rarity was busily trying to clean herself up while Pinkie was telling her about all the party ideas for the creature. As Twilight flared up her magic her horn began to glow a raspberry color, an aura surrounding it.

"What's this now?" Shingo whispered to himself as he tensed up, feeling her energy begin to rise. Suddenly, her horn let out a short blast of magic that Shingo dodged. However, Twilight wasn't done yet as she began to fire rapid bolts of magic, waiting until the moment Shingo jumped into the air to use her plan. Her horn then began to charge for the upcoming spell, and then fired burst of magic that Shingo was unable to dodge due to being in mid-air, "_Aw crud!_" he thought as he felt himself unable to move, feeling himself getting encased in a layer of rock and falling to the ground shortly after. He was still able to hear what was going on outside, but it was slightly muffled.

"Well that should hold him for a bit!" Twilight declared proudly, admiring her handy work. "It may not hold it near as long as Discord's prison, but it should be able to hold him until the princess gets here!"

(Music Stops)

"Oh no! Shingo!" Scootaloo cried out as she ran up to her friend, seeing him get encased in stone.

"Oh no Twilight! Are we too late?" Fluttershy said in fear as she saw the state of the creature, which she recently found out meant no harm.

"No, I just managed to wrap things up, but who is Shingo?" Twilight asked the mare, curiously awaiting an answer.

"There they are AJ!" A voice called out from the woods as Rainbow Dash and Applejack galloped up to the group. "Whoa! Since when could it turn into a statue?"

"It couldn't, I just used a minor petrification spell on it to make sure it doesn't try to hurt us any more!" Twilight explained to the group.

"Oh Twilight! Will he be alright?" Fluttershy asked the unicorn, worry evident in her voice.

"Yeah, of course! Why do you ask?"

"Well...I think Scootaloo can explain the best." She said motioning for the filly to come forward. Scootaloo stepped into the middle of the group as she took a deep breath before starting to explain.

"Well you see, it all started yesterday night." The filly said as she began to recall the events of the previous night. "I had been practicing trying to fly, and had gotten a bit down in the dumps, when suddenly I heard a loud sound coming from the Everfree Forest. I also saw a bright flash of light, and decided to check it out. However, not knowing the area, I began to get lost in the forest, and ended up getting nowhere. Then, at the worst possible moment, a Timber wolf came out and began to chase me!" The filly saw that the mare's eyes had all widened, except Fluttershy's, having heard the story once before, "I had ran away, but tripped over a tree root and got cornered. Just when I thought I was done for, a creature came out and fought the timber wolf and started to fight it, and actually won against it. It turned to face me, but I guess it hadn't ever seen one of us before, so it fainted!"

"Huh, I guess that means it ain't from Equestria then..." Applejack rationalized as Scootaloo nodded in response.

"I figured that since it hadn't done anything thing to me, I'd sleep by it for the night." The young pegasus continued, "When he woke up I found him trying to climb down a tree, but he'd fallen in the process," Scootaloo and Pinkie giggled as they both imagined it happening, "afterwards, we both introduced ourselves, and he actually cheered me up, and we were about to leave when you all showed up!" Scootaloo finished her tale as she looked around the group.

"Oh...so he wasn't trying to capture or eat you after all?" Rainbow asked guiltily as she stared at Shingo, who was lying on the ground.

"Nope!" The filly responded affirmatively.

"Oh...I reckon' an apologies in order then...when'd ya say he be out of the stone Twilight?" Applejack inquired to the lavender unicorn.

"Oh he shoul-" She was cut off as Shingo suddenly burst out from his prison of stone, patting himself off in order to get the dust off of him. Everyone's jaw, but especially Twilight's dropped as he stretched to loosen his muscles back up.

"Shingo!" Scootaloo yelled happily as she ran up to her human friend, embracing him in a warm hug as he grinned in response.

"Scootaloo! I'm glad to see you're alright!" He said, laughing as he returned the hug. The mares all softly smiled at this, knowing for sure that he didn't mean anymore harm. Twilight however, still had her jaw dropped as Pinkie decided to tug on her lower lip before letting go, making it roll up much like a projector screen would.

"B-but you should have been in there for at least a _day_ or two!" She yelled out, shocked at the ease of his escape.

"Oh...was I not supposed to break out of there?" He asked with an apologetic look, "sorry if I did that too soon, but it was pretty easy to do..." Twilight shook her head at her statement.

"Never mind that, I'm just sorry we assumed that you meant to hurt Scootaloo here!" The other mares nodded in agreement as they had looks of guilt, Rainbow Dash and Applejack especially.

"Hey it's alright guys!" Shingo said, trying to cheer them up, "I know you were just looking out for her, so no hard feelings! How's about we just start over?" He offered, making the mare's faces brighten considerably.

"Absolutely! My name is Twilight Sparkle! I'm a student of Princess Celestia of the city of Canterlot! If you'd like to come over to the library when this is done I'd like to learn more about you!" The unicorn introduced herself as the rainbow one was up next.

"My name is Rainbow Dash! Fastest flyer in all of Equestria and the one and only pegasus ever to do the legendary Sonic Rainboom! You seem pretty awesome, so let's hang out sometime!" The pegasus said heartily, as the orange farm-pony stepped up next.

"Mah name is Applejack, hardworking farm pony from Sweet Apple Acres, if ya'll ever need a place to stay, or fresh apple treats to eat, don't hesitate to call us up!" The pale yellow pegasus, who seemed a bit nervous, went up to him.

"M-my name is Fluttershy, I-I take care of the animals around if they're sick or injured. I-I'd love to have you over anytime!" The mare almost whispered, obviously taking a lot of courage as her namesake would imply. After she went back, the white unicorn with a mane that seemed very well taken care of, went to greet him.

"My name is Rarity! Aspiring fashonista and one of the most sophisticated ponies around. Darling you simply must come by my boutique sometime! I have loads of new fashion ideas that would be perfect for your kind!" She said as Shingo thanked her and agreed to her offer. Last, but certainly not least was the pink pony from earlier.

"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! Nice to meet you! I know we've already met but I just wanted to say that it's great that you came here and when we get back I should totally give you the grand tour of Ponyville, and afterwards throw you your party!" She took a deep breath after she finished, not bothering to inhale during her constant stream of words. Shingo simply chuckled and told her that he'd love to have a tour.

"Well in spite of the welcome I got earlier, I'm Shingo Yabuki, it's a pleasure to meet you all!" He said with a smile as he shook each one of the mare's hooves. Scootaloo hopped onto his head as they both shared a smile. "So now that that's out of the way where do we go next?" He asked curiously as he looked at the mares.

"Well I suppose the only thing to do now is to head back to Ponyville and officially welcome you!" Twilight said to him, Pinkie cheering at the last part of the statement. As they all shared a laugh at the pink pony's antics Shingo knew that even though he wasn't from here, that whatever happened now, he'd have good friends to help him through it all the way...


	4. The Day That Parties were Had

It was a relatively uneventful walk back to Ponyville for Shingo and his new group of friends. Pinkie was merrily skipping along while Applejack and Rainbow Dash were chatting casually as Fluttershy chose to walk in silence, preferring to let the ambient sounds of nature calm her, and Twilight and Rarity chatted with Shingo about things going on in Equestria. Scootaloo herself had chosen to ride on Shingo's head, the human boy not really minding the new passenger taking up residence on his cranium. The young man was in the middle of hearing a riveting tale about how Rainbow Dash and Applejack had competed in an "Iron Pony Competition," when he thought of an important problem that could potentially present itself.

"Say Twilight?" Shingo asked the lavender unicorn as he gained a look a realization on his face.

"Yes Shingo? Is something wrong?" Celestia's student looked back at him in curiosity.

"Well it's just that me being the first human here it looks like, I don't know if it's such a good idea for me to just run into town willy nilly..." He trailed off, imagining many scenarios filled with mass panic and paranoia at his arrival, and to his horror, all his imagined scenarios ended with him getting sentenced to a lifetime in the dungeon with nothing to drink but... _milk._ "_That's just a fate worse than death right there..._" he thought with a shudder.

"Hm...he does have a point Twilight dear." Rarity chimed in, "I mean considering how fast a rumor can spread in Ponyville it would probably be best to find another route to take in this situation so as to avoid a panic."

"That's right...but what could we do?" Twilight said to herself as she began to concentrate on the problem. However, Shingo, not wanting to face a lifetime of milk, put his creative mind to use, and came up with a rather unorthodox solution.

"Well...I guess until you girls think it'd be safe maybe it's best that you turn me into a pony, at least temporarily if you can..." Shingo said looking at the group to gather their opinions. As the mare's and Scootaloo thought this over, they figured that they'd really have nothing to lose by trying, and so they decided to go through with the idea.

"Alright Shingo, now I've never performed a spell of this magnitude before, so I'm getting a bit of help from Rarity here, and as for the of you girls, I'll need you guys to let us have the utmost concentration. If we get distracted, who knows what could happen!" Twilight said ominously, not wanting to imagine the horrors of broken concentration during the spell. As the rest of the group nodded in understanding Shingo stood in front of Twilight and Rarity while the others watched from nearby. "Are you ready Shingo?" Twilight asked her new human companion with a bit of both hesitance and excitement in her voice.

"Ready as I'll ever be!" He said giving her a thumbs up, prompting the two unicorn's to begin the procedure. The pair of ponies then flared up their magic as both their horns and Shingo began to gain a gradual glow. As the process went on, Shingo began to grimace as he felt his body begin to take on an entirely different form, his hands and feet beginning to harden and grow larger and rounder, forming hooves. His light brown hair began to grow a bit longer as it began to compensate for the growth of a stallion's mane. Soon after that Shingo shivered as he felt himself begin to get hair all over his body while his clothes began to fade away altogether. He flushed in embarrassment and began to cover himself up, but luckily the transformation was nearing it's end as he felt his center of gravity shift his weight onto all for of his limbs to walk on. With a final flash of light, the transformation was complete, and as the mares and filly uncovered their eyes, they witnessed its result.

"So guys? How do I look?" The now pony-fied Shingo asked the group as they simply stared at him, mouths agape. "What?" He asked as he saw the looks on their faces. He decided to look in the nearby lake to see how the transformation had gone, and grinned a bit at what he saw.

"_Sweet! I'm a pegasus!_" He thought, admiring his new wings, however, he noticed that he had a bit of trouble balancing on his new hooves, but figured that he'd get used to them later. He turned around to the mares and chuckled as he caught them staring a bit at him. Scootaloo was staring in a way that a little sister would look up to an older brother, which was perfectly normal in Shingo's mind, but the older mares were all staring with a bit of...romantic admiration. "_Heh this'll be kinda' fun to tease them about!_" He thought with a smirk, however, he opted out of teasing Fluttershy as he saw that she was shyly hiding her face from view behind her long pink mane. "So uh not to be rude," he coughed in order to gain their attention, "but maybe we can continue this staring contest at a later time? I think I still need that tour!" He said grinning as a blush came over all the faces of the mane six except Pinkie Pie, who cheered as she grabbed one of Shingo's fore-hooves, dragging him along while eagerly beginning to give him the grand tour of the town.

"Whoa! He doesn't look too bad!" Rainbow Dash commented, "I don't think I'd mind testing him in a couple of flying races myself!"

"Hold yer' horses there RD!" Applejack said with a chuckle at her friend's eagerness, "Ah think we oughta' let the boy test out his wings before doing a full fledged competition! And besides," the orange mare said gaining a smirk, "I caught ya' staring at him with your eyes all dreamy like that!"

"Hey!" Rainbow said with a blush while trying to fend off the accusation, "I saw you staring just as much as I was! So you can't say anything!" the pegasus mare concluded as she stuck her tongue out at the farm-mare. The rest of the group simply giggled at the budding argument while Scootaloo simply blanched childishly at the mention of romantic type things.

"Well girls I hate to break up this _interesting_ argument," Rarity said with a knowing smirk on her face, "but I do believe that we should be getting back to Ponyville lest' Pinkie gives Shingo the tour without us!"

"Sure, just as soon as Captain Lies-a-Lot admits _she_ was the one staring at Shingo like a new Zap Apple Tree!" The cyan mare said glaring at her current foe.

"Oh sure thing Rarity, just as soon as Rainbow _Brash_ here fesses' up to makin' eyes at our new friend!" Applejack said returning her friend's glare in an equally effective manner. One could practically feel the electricity between them as the tension increased rapidly, neither side giving an inch in their respective arguments. That is, until Rarity came up with a new plan.

"Well darlings if you two insist on hiding your feelings so intently then I might just have to tell our dear Shingo about _both_ of your respective feelings for him..." The unicorn grinned deviously as she saw the mares's faces take on looks of horror.

"You/Ya'll wouldn't dare!" The mares said at the same time, glaring at the fashonista.

"Oh _wouldn't_ I?" Rarity said in a mischievous tone as Twilight, Fluttershy, and Scootaloo held back their laughter after seeing the begrudging look on their friends's faces.

"Fine you win!" Rainbow sighed as she shook hooves with Applejack, resolving the matter, but as soon as she saw that the other's had begun to walk away she issued a quiet challenge to the farm-pony "I bet I can get him to like me before you do!"

"Oh it is _on!_" Applejack declared just as quietly as they firmly shook hooves to seal the deal, now becoming each other's rivals in romance as they galloped back to catch up with the rest of the group.

**~Another Like Me~**

If Shingo thought he had known what the definition of "being hyper" was before, his definition definitely didn't compare to the enthusiasm and glee that Pinkie had while getting to town. As they got out of the forest they came to a hill overlooking the town. Pinkie then told him stay there for a second while she got him an "extra special surprise," to which he agreed while she sped off at a pace that would make even Usain Bolt jealous.

"Man, Olympic runners eat your heart out!" Shingo said to no one as he watched the pink mare gallop away, leaving nothing more than a Pinkie shaped dust cloud behind. However, as the dust cloud cleared he found out, much to his surprise, that as the dirt dissipated that Pinkie was _in_ the dust cloud. "_What?!_" He thought as his eyes widened in shock, "_But she just- I mean she- aw never mind..._" He decided to give up on trying to figure out how she got back so fast and instead focused on the object she had brought back with her.

It was a pink and magenta chest that stood atop a set of wagon wheels, and it was decorated in designs colored shades of bright yellow and light blue, making the entire container give off an aura of festivity. He was about to ask Pinkie what it was, when he saw her push a button and take a stance in preparation for something. As he tried again to ask he was cut off as the chest opened up to reveal a mix of multicolored flags, horns, poles that looked like candy canes, and even a stand that looked like it had a shelf stocked with cupcakes and an oven to boot. As he admired the set-up he suddenly heard an upbeat tune begin to play, and Pinkie then began to hop.

"Welcome welcome welcome, a fine welcome to you!" Pinkie began to sing and dance in rhythm with the music, which Shingo later knew as the "Welcome Song," each part of the performance giving off a light-hearted nature that made.

"_Man she's got a good voice!_" He thought to himself in awe, and as the act continued he found Pinkie pulling out horns, drums, and even party hats out of nowhere as he could only watch with a bit of confusion as she strapped a party hat onto him pulled out a horn and actually managed to stick the _horn through his ears and play it._

"_Nope! Not even going to __**try**__ and question that one!_" He thought in shock as he felt no pain from the horn going in and out of his ears. As he saw her dancing in a fashion that reminded him of Earth, the mare slid in front of him.

"Welcome welcome welcome! To Ponyville _Today_!" She finished her song while holding out the last word of the song for a little longer. She held her pose even after the song had ended. "Wait for it..." she said excitedly as she noticed Shingo about to speak. After she had said that the candy cane poles shot out confetti accompanied with a kazoo type of noise, and a cake literally shot out of the oven, accidentally splattering all over Shingo's face in the process. "Oops! Silly me!" Pinkie giggled as she noticed Shingo's now cake-covered face, "I must've over charged the oven today!" She chuckled as she hopped over to Shingo, who had by now licked all the cake off of his face, and much to his delight, it had been chocolate cake, his favorite flavor! "So?" Pinkie questioned him excitedly, "What'd you think?"

"Well...it..." Shingo took on a thoughtful look as he stifled a laugh at Pinkie's face, "it..."

"Yeah?"

"It was..."

"_Yeah?_" Pinkie scooted a bit closer as her eyes widened, awaiting his reaction.

"I think it was..."

"_**YEAH?**_" Pinkie was now bouncing up and down, almost bursting with anticipation, and Shingo knew this, because he almost failed to hide his laughter at her excitement.

"I think that that was only _the best_ welcome anybody, or anypony for that matter, has ever given me!" He said happily, but truthfully. He then found himself lacking the ability to breath as Pinkie had rocketed over to him and given him a huge hug, that while friendly, was crushing him. "Uh Pinkie?" He gasped out, turning a darker shade of blue.

"Oh I just knew you'd _love_ it! What was the best part? The cake? The confetti? The song? Personally I thought the music was the best part of it but-"

"Pinkie...No air..." Shingo tried to get the attention of the mare, but his words were lost in her excitement over his reaction to the welcome song, and so he was about to fall unconscious when he noticed that the rest of the girls were coming, making Pinkie drop him, much to his lungs's relief, and hop over to the group.

"_Thank you dear lord!_" Shingo thought as he took many a deep breath before going over to the mares. "Hey guys so you caught up finally eh?" He asked the group as they all nodded. Suddenly Pinkie gasped and rocketed away, this time not reappearing in the dust cloud she had left behind. "Hey where's she going this time?" He asked Twilight.

"Oh she's probably just going to get your party ready! It's her special talent you know!"

"Oh so she was serious about that huh? But I don't know how she's going to get a party ready on such short notice though..."

"Oh trust me, never doubt Pinkie Pie when it comes to a party, she's capable of doing a lot of other ponies would find near impossible." Twilight smirked, recalling the incident of when she tried to figure out how Pinkie was able to do the things she did.

"Believe me, I think I've already got an idea of what you're talking about." He said as he told them what had happened during the song earlier, and they shared a chuckle. He thought he had seen brief looks of jealousy on Rainbow Dash and Applejack's faces when he told them about the bone-crushing hug he had received, but wrote it off as him imagining things. "So who's going to give me the tour now that Pinkie has left?" He asked the mares, who looked at each other, and told him that they could go as a group, and when the respective places came up they'd each take a turn telling about the different places in Ponyville.

First up was Fluttershy's house, as it was the closest to the Everfree forest. As they neared the house he saw that the house itself seemed to be a part of the landscape. A bridge over a river leading to the cottage that looked integrated into a hill, flowers surrounding the yard, and to add to the atmosphere, many animals of all different sorts were running around playing with each other, even ones that Shingo knew that in his world were ones to have predator-prey relationships.

"Woah, now this is pretty amazing!" Shingo complemented the yellow pegasus on her house as she blushed a bit and hid behind her mane, her normal shyness coming forward. However, she managed to shake it off and began to describe her house.

"U-Uh w-well this is my house, it's very close to the Everfree so that anytime an animal is sick or injured, it can come here and be treated quite well and even live here if it wants to." The mare told him, "in fact, Angel Bunny, my favorite pet, came in one day from the Everfree, and I've taken care of him ever since!" At this the group continued onward they came upon a field of trees that Shingo noticed were all lined up in rows with the utmost precision.

"Huh...an Apple orchard?" He asked the girls as they nodded in response as Applejack came to the forefront.

"Yes siree'! This here field is home to the Apple trees of Sweet Apple Acres!" She said, using her hoof to gesture at the entirety of the field. "Across this field my family lives over there! There's my brother Big Macintosh, my little sister Apple Bloom, Granny Smith, and a'course yours truly, Applejack!" She said pointing to herself, and proceeded to offer Shingo a free apple from the orchard as a sample, which he took graciously. As he took his first bite, he stopped and took in the rich flavor as his eyes widened in awe at the simple deliciousness contained in the apple.

"This...is...amazing..." He said, promptly beginning to eat the rest as fast as possible while the mares all giggled at his reaction to the apple's taste.

"Well shoot that's to be expected!" Applejack chuckled at his statement, "We wouldn't be called the Apple family if we didn't have the best apples in Equestria!"

"Oh I believe that statement wholeheartedly!" The once human said as he pounded his chest for emphasis.

"Well if ya'll will be around for awhile you can have all the free apples you want!" The mare said, making Shingo's eyes go wide at the mention of all those delicious apples.

"Really?! Aw thanks Applejack!" He said as he gave her a friendly hug, which she returned as she smirked at Rainbow Dash, who simply gave her a glare in response. After they broke the hug, they continued on as the main hub of Ponyville came into sight. However, much to Shingo's confusion they stopped at random, but as he looked at them in wonder they simply told him to look up. As he turned to raise his head, he gave a gasp of amazement as he saw what looked like a mansion made literally out of clouds.

"Like it?" Rainbow asked him, to which he nodded vigorously. "That's my house: Casa del Dash! Built it right out of the clouds myself!"

"You did?" Shingo asked in awe, "that's amazing, it must have taken you a while to build something like that!"

"Well for most ponies it would!" Rainbow said as her pride was beginning to come forward, "but for a pegasus as awesome as me it didn't even take that long!" The others rolled their eyes at this statement, knowing that the pegasus was doing her usual amount of boasting for the day. However, Scootaloo and Shingo took every word of hers without question. "Hey maybe later we can hang or something and I'll show you around my place and give you a tour of Cloudsdale too!"

"Hey that's not a bad idea Rainbow!" Shingo said as he thought about the idea, Rainbow silently cheering as Applejack 'hmphed' to herself, believing she had scored a date already. "Hey maybe Scootaloo could come along too!" He added making the orange filly perk up at his statement and give a pleading look to Rainbow Dash.

"Please Rainbow Dash would it be ok if I could? _Please?_" The filly practically begged the cyan mare, who was disappointed at the new deal she had been presented, but finally decided to agree anyway, figuring that since the filly looked up to her, it wouldn't be such a bad idea to let her tag along.

"Sure Scootaloo you can come along too..." She said with a little bit less enthusiasm, but ultimately Scootaloo and Shingo didn't notice as the filly went up to give her a hug while Shingo chuckled at her act of joy. Applejack gave a triumphant smirk to the cyan pegasus as the two shared a competitive look, knowing that it wouldn't be an easy win for either of them. After that, the group traveled into the outskirts of the town, and Shingo sighted a house that seemed to be made entirely out of desserts. After voicing his confusion, the mares chuckled and explained that the gingerbread house was where Pinkie lived along with Mr. and Mrs. Cake.

"_That makes sense, considering she likes parties!_" The stallion thought as he put two and two together. The group then moved on as they came upon a giant tree. "We're visiting a lumber jack's house?" He asked the group as they gave each other looks, and then began to laugh.

"No silly!" Twilight said as she came forward, "this is the Ponyville library, where I live alongside my assistants Spike and Owlowiscious!"

"Oh..." Shingo said understanding why they had laughed, and gave a sheepish grin at his mistake. Next the group trekked awhile until they came to a house that was quite fancy. Rarity came to the forefront.

"This dear Shingo, would be my place of residence, the Carousel Boutique." The white unicorn said as she gestured dramatically to the house, "It is where I, my parents, and my younger sister Sweetie Belle live. It is also the place where I run my business as a fashion designer, and if you would come by later, it would be my pleasure to give you a complementary set of clothes!"

"Gee thanks Rarity! That'd be awesome!" Shingo said pumping his hoof.

"Oh think nothing of it dear, I'm not called the Element of Generosity for nothing!" The mare said humbly as the group began to head back. After all the walking they had done that day, the group noticed that the sun was setting. As the sky began to darken, and Luna's moon began to rise, Shingo realized at that moment that he had no place to stay.

"Hey girls I just realized, where am I going to stay?" He asked as the mares realized that they hadn't addressed that problem. Applejack and Rainbow Dash however, knew exactly where they wanted him to stay, but before they could suggest their ideas, Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared in front of them.

"Hey guys! All finished with the tour I see?" She asked, and the girls nodded while Shingo wondered how she'd known that, and attributed it to her "being Pinkie Pie," as Twilight had suggested earlier. At this Pinkie then pulled Shingo by his hooves and sped towards Twilight's Library, the girls following closely behind. As they neared the library Shingo noticed that the lights that had previously been on inside the giant tree were now turned off somehow, but before he could say anything Pinkie opened the door and pushed him inside. Once he entered the lights immediately flickered on as he gazed in amazement as an entire crowd of ponies were there to greet him, all of them yelled 'surprise' as confetti rained down.

"What...is all this?" He said, still not believing what was in front of him.

"Well it's your 'Welcome to Ponyville Party' silly!" Pinkie said with a giggle, and gestured to the many ponies, "come on I'll introduce you!" She said eagerly as the rest of the girls engaged in conversations with the other ponies that were there. Among the time that Pinkie Pie had him, Shingo was introduced to many ponies, who were all quite friendly to him even though it was his first day here. He had even gotten to meet the mayor of the town, who apparently knew Pinkie quite well. After getting introduced to all the ponies, the party truly began as Pinkie pointed out the many activities such as games, dancing, mingling with ponies, and even snacks. Shingo thanked her for showing him around and decided to get some refreshments.

"_Oh man! Raspberry lemonade?!_" He thought in delight, "_she really __**did**__ remember what I liked!_" As he chugged a cup of the heavenly liquid down in happiness, he noticed that a lot of the ponies had been getting on the dance floor. Shingo, not being much of a dancer himself, at first was hesitant to go down and dance, but figured that since it was a party for him, he'd do it anyway. As Pinkie saw him walk onto the dance floor, she whispered to the dj, Vinyl Scratch, to put on 'the song,' and she nodded, putting a different record onto the turntable.

"Alright everypony!" Vinyl called out to the crowd, "Let's kick this party into full gear!" The crowd cheered in response as the music began to play, and the lights in the library dimmed as Shingo saw many multicolored lights began to shine. He grinned as the tune began playing, deciding to dance the only way he knew how: Randomly, or "Shingo Style" as he called it. His grin only widened as he saw that Twilight and the others had joined him, and laughed as he saw that even Scootaloo and what looked to be a couple of her friends were breaking out a few moves of their own. As the ponies moved with the beat, Shingo discovered that he wasn't actually that bad of a dancer, throwing in a couple of breakdance moves and shuffling in there for good measure, and at one point had a portion of the crowd cheering him on as he danced.

After dancing for a while, he decided to take a break as he went over to the refreshment table to get some punch. As he was quenching his thirst a pair of stallions came up to introduce themselves.

"Hey man, you're the new stallion in town right?" A tan stallion with a brown mane asked him as he nodded in confirmation. "Well then it's nice to meet you! I'm Caramel, and that large stallion over there is my good friend Big Macintosh!" He said shaking Shingo's hoof as he introduced the other stallion to Shingo, who nodded in greeting.

"Oh Big Macintosh? You're Applejack's brother right?" Shingo said remembering the names of the ponies from Sweet Apple Acres.

"Eeyup!" Big Mac said in response.

"Is that your catch phrase?"

"Eeyup." This made the group chuckle a bit as they continued to talk.

"So Shingo?" Caramel said as the blue stallion turned back towards him.

"Yeah Caramel?"

"I just wanted to know if you were free this weekend. You see me and the other stallions were going to go bowling and have a stallion's night out. Since you're new here I figured you might want to get to know some of the guys in town?" Caramel offered as Shingo smiled at his words.

"Sure thing Caramel! I'd love to do that!"

"Well that's great! Now while we're here how's about we break out the adult drinks?" He said with a mischievous grin as he gestured over another room that seemed to hold what looked like a barrel that was labeled "Cider. Not for foal's or underage colt or filly consumption." Now Shingo figured that by the labeling and Caramel's tone, that he was delving into an alcoholic situation here, and back home he had never been a big drinker himself, but being here...he figured what was the harm in a couple of drinks.

"Sure why not?" He said casually as they walked into the other room that had many tables set up. The tables themselves were filled with adult stallions and mares casually drinking mugs of cider while conversing. Shingo, Caramel, and Big Mac all went up to the barrel and filled up their mugs before sitting down at a vacant table. Shingo found that unlike most alcoholic drinks in his world, this had quite the delicious flavor. After chatting a bit with the other stallions he saw Applejack and Rainbow Dash come over to the table and sit down in a couple of chairs.

"So Shingo, how's the party for ya' so far?" Applejack asked him.

"Oh it's been great! Pinkie sure knows how to make a great party!" He responded happily, remembering all the wonderful things about the event being held for him.

"Yeah that's Pinkie for you!" Rainbow Dash chuckled, "she may not be the brightest mare out there, but if there's one thing she knows how to do it's throw a party!"

"Hey speaking of parties." Caramel said after drinking his mug of cider. "How's about we liven this party up with a little challenge?"

"I'm all ears." Shingo said, genuinely curious at the stallion's offer.

"Well I figured that since you're new in town, and that since you're coming with us to hang out later this week, that we should test your...endurance with a little competition." He said as he tilted his head towards the barrels of cider in the back of the room. Shingo knew what he was offering, and that was a drinking contest. He normally would have refused, but Rainbow and Applejack then answered the statement with a bit of praise for their friend.

"Man are you kidding, Shingo could down a good ten mugs easy!" Rainbow Dash declared confidently.

"Well I don't-" Shingo tried to respond, but was cut off.

"Yeah! I bet he can out drink ya' no problem! Right Shingo?" Applejack inquired eagerly to her friend.

"Well I mean I wouldn't say that..." Shingo whispered, but saw that his words had gone unheard.

"Well well Shingo!" Caramel said with a grin, "it looks like your friends here are pretty confident in your abilities! So how about it? You and me?" He challenged as he held out his hoof. Shingo took a second to think about his options. On one hand, he could play it safe and not risk getting overly drunk, but on the other hand, he had two of his friends cheering him on as it was, and he was never one to back down from a challenge...

"I'll do it!" He said as he shook the stallion's hoof. A crowd began to gather around the table to watch the contest as Shingo braced himself for the incoming challenge. Big Mac explained the rules, which stated that they would each have a drink at the same time, taking it one mug at a time, until the loser would either pass out or tap out, signifying his resignation from the competition. As Shingo and Caramel waited for the mugs to be filled up, they wished each other good luck, and grabbed a mug from the table. As the countdown began to fall, they shared a heated look of determination between each other, the both of them fully intending to not let the other win.

"GO!" The crowd roared in unison as the two speedily gulped down their drinks. This continued until Shingo's third drink, where he started to feel a little bit woozy. Caramel noticed this, and with an equally dizzy grin decided to taunt his opponent.

"So Shingo? Feeling lightheaded yet?"

"N-no way man!" Shingo countered, "I'm just getting started." And with that the contest continued with a fourth, then a fifth, then a sixth drink. By the tenth drink Shingo couldn't remember what was happening anymore, the party seemed to happen in one big blur of memories. At some point he just flat out passed out.

**~Another Like Me~**

"Oh man what happened..." Shingo groaned as he struggled to get up from the ground, finding himself in the same room as he had been last night. He noticed that it was morning as the sun was coming in through a nearby window, and he decided to get back on his feet. However, when he did so he noticed that two ponies were piled on top of him. Namely, Applejack and Rainbow Dash. "Ok, now I've _really_ gotta' find out what happened last night..." he muttered, remembering a meme that fit this scenario perfectly, having something to do with forgetting to turn off your swag or something. As he wandered into the living room he found that most of the party decorations had been cleared out and that the library now looked like a normal library. He found Twilight in the main room reading a book called "42: Is this number the answer to life itself?" As he walked in the mare noticed his presence.

"Oh hey Shingo! Finally woke up eh?" She said giving a small laugh.

"Yeah...but hey I really need to ask, what exactly happened last night?" He asked with a tone of worry in his voice.

"Oh, wondering about the whole aftermath of your drinking contest with Caramel huh?" Twilight inquired as he nodded. She giggled, motioning for him to take a seat in the chair next to her. "Well..." She began to tell her story, Shingo wondering just what had happened, and whether anything he did had ended up badly...

**~Another Like Me~**


End file.
